Rank, money and fame don't make a person great. Character does.
What we admire about the greatest of the Stoics, from Cato to Marcus Aurelius to Admiral Stockdale, was not their rank or their office. It was not even their eloquence or their fortitude. What made them truly great was their character: how they treated people, how they stood on principle and how they commanded themselves first and foremost.
Power does not make you powerful. In fact, what it often does is reveal how powerless a person is: powerless over themselves, weak and scared at their core. You can be an emperor or a billionaire, a celebrity or a commander and, it turns out, still be a very small person.
You can be beautiful and, to borrow an expression from Epictetus, still be ugly if you make ugly choices. It doesn't matter if you have a big job if inside you remain a very small person.
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It doesn't matter who you have been elected or appointed to govern if you fail to govern yourself.
Power does not make you powerful. Character does.
TRY THIS TODAY
Pay attention to how you treat the people who can do nothing for you: the waiter, the junior colleague, the stranger on the phone. Make those your best conversations of the day.
Much of what I've learned about Stoicism comes from Ryan Holiday. Find more of his writing at dailystoic.com and ryanholiday.net.
While I have edited much of this content, there are some cases where I have taken Ryan Holiday's words directly. I've included them because I think they are powerful and will be helpful for you. They are also helpful for me, and I've put them here so I can learn and understand more myself.
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